Travel

During our first stay in the Philippines, just after COVID, we skipped Moalboal. At the time, it was still "complicated" to change islands. For this trip I studied an Anilao – Romblon combo but it seemed relatively complicated to me... I gave up. Good for us with the typhoons, we would have been stuck for a few days.   Anyway, we went back to Cebu again, with Moalboal and its sardines as our first stop.   For the rest of the season we chose safety by returning to the T

Raja Ampat is universally known as "The Heart of Coral Triangle”, for its unrivaled wealth, including: 540 hard coral species (more than 75% of the world's coral species); 60 types of crayfish; 1,070 types of reef fish; 699 types of mollusks. Also on land, Raja Ampat has incredible diversities: over 874 plant species that 9 are endemic and 6 are protected species, of which 360 species are trees. Also there are 114 species of herpetofauna with 5 species of which are endemic and 5 other species ar

Text and images: Davide De Benedictis - Claudio Valerio Cover photo: Marco Bartolomucci   If we told you how long we've been diving, you'd immediately know how old we are. We'd just tell you that we've been diving for a long time and that our passion for the sea has always been a part of us. We've spent most of our time in the Mediterranean, and by diving year-round, we've seen the gradual changes in the sea we love the most. A while back, we observed some novice divers dur

In April 2024, I took a memorable cruise, with the itinerary covering from Halmahera to Sorong, crossing some of the most iconic dive sites in Indonesia.   In this article I will cover the first part of the journey, the one from Ternate to Pisang. I will add a second article focusing on the Raja Ampat and Misool area.    I was onboard the beautiful GAIA LOVE vessel, a beautiful modern motor yacht, purpose built to explore the far-reach regions of Indonesia.   This w

I became aware of Providencia island as a diving destination, when I asked in Scubaboard for a Caribbean diving destination that still offers intact reefs and sealife and is not overrun by tourism (my Caribbean diving experience was, so far, limited to a stay in the early 90ies at Grand Cayman and two stays on the Florida Key Islands around 2000). Instigated by a very positive recommendation, Lisi, me and two friends (Franz and Gerdi) headed towards Providencia Island in March 2024...   Th

Hi Everyone, I would like to share with everyone this article that i have published on my site. In a time where we are constantly pushed by social media to publish images faster and faster i am noticing around me more and more malpractices on land and of course also underwater. This is an article initially in french translated by myself in English do forgive me if there any errors.   https://scuba-people.com/en/banner/the-other-face-of-underwater-photography-ethical-dilemmas

Traveling 12,000 miles (19,600km); flying for 24 hours, followed by a 2-1/2 hour drive, and then a 1 hour boat ride, all to get to the Poor Knights Islands in New Zealand. Mon Dieu! OK, I hate to admit it, but he was right, it is one of the world’s top 10 diving destinations.     Created by volcanic eruptions about 10 million years ago, they’ve become home to a myriad of marine life. There are over 50 different dive sites around the islands, such as the Northern Arch, Blue M

How to   I can still remember me sitting in a hotel lobby after a Lake Baikal tour in 2014, reading a dive operator newsletter about “Snorkeling with Orcas in Norway”. I just thought, “ Are they crazy,  snorkeling with Orcas?! Definitely not, that’s too dangerous!”   Well, the years passed and everyone returned in one piece from these tours. Over all these years the Orca action doesn't seem to be letting up, based on reliable first-hand information, and because I upgraded my

St. Eustatius, locally known as Statia, is located in the northeastern Caribbean at a stone’s throw from St. Maarten. While its neighboring island Saba is a well-known diving destination, Statia is often overlooked.   I have lived on Statia on and off for the past 14 years and have spent a good 6 years of my life on the island. I’ve worked at the local dive center and have organized numerous underwater archaeological projects and exploration dives all around the island. As a result, I

INTRODUCTION - JAPAN AS A DIVING DESTINATION The key word for Japanese diving is probably variety, as it is rare for a single country to offer so much underwater diversity. Looking at maps of Japan offers insights into why this might be the case:  the Japanese islands have a unique profile and geographical position, spanning over 3,000 km across extreme latitudes, with conditions ranging from the subarctic in the north to the strongly subtropical in the far south. Map of the Japanes

I’ve been to Bonaire 7 times over the years and logged 235 dives there. I like it for the shore diving and, generally, for the macro critters. I love the laid-back feeling. But, for me, the reefs are not what they were and marine life now seems a bit limited: reef fish, shrimp and arrowcrabs. Slight exaggeration I know but no big things (yeah, the odd tarpon, some turtles) and even the macro life now seems to take some hunting. Very little, if any, schooling fish. Yes, I know it usuall

By: Martin Pachmann The Egyptian coral reefs near Port Ghalib were my first contact with the beautiful underwater world with mask and snorkel. And because I have always loved taking photos, I wanted to capture this world on sensor and memory card and be able to look at it again at home. After a mobile phone case, actioncam and a crappy plastic housing with an acrylic dome (awful!), I wanted something "Now it's all the photographer's fault". Thanks to you forum members , (!) I ended up with

Travel report August 2023 By : Martin Paceman   Three years ago, we learnt to dive for the first time at Reethi Beach Resort https://www.reethibeach.com/ in the BAA Atoll in the Maldives. The incredibly relaxed diving school Ocean Fanatics offered a very affordable taster dive in the usual manner, which opened up a world to us that we had never known before.  From Reethi Beach, the Ocean Fanatics also offer snorkeling trips to Hanifaru Bay, which is known for the accumulation